A wonderful idea was brought up (by Jad) to have ordinary, down-to-earth stories told by Arabs and Israelis about themselves, about their daily lives, about what it is like living in their respective countries. So much of our fears and suspicion stems from ignorance, from simply knowing little or nothing about the “other side”. And so we’re inviting you to read and comment about your life, and about those of our neighbors.
Quite appropriately, Jad will be the first. Jad is a Syrian from Damascus, and he wrote a nice piece about what it is like being a Syrian today (Thank You Jad!):
“From an average Syrian man with the name of Jad.”
I am from a typical Syrian middle class, hard working and very loving family. My childhood was between the urban neighbourhoods of Damascus in winter and the beautiful Mediterranean landscape in the summer, God is generous to me, he opens me many doors to advance, I have big dreams some I already done yet the best are still to come. In my trip I met and will meet great people, teachers, I learned and will learn from them what I need to become a better human being and to become the beautiful reflection of my country Syria.
I as a Syrian am not different than you as an Israeli, I may not have your luxury car, your expensive house and your fancy towers in my cities but we both have one reason to live, we both want a bright future, we both want to live the same way we do when we travel outside our countries, me and you are the same but we don’t see that we’d rather magnify our differences and make wars for it.
We as human and as enemy are not that different from each others, we eat three meals a day, we drink, we laugh, we love, we make sex, we kiss, we cry, we get angry, we get frustrated, we hate , we like, we dislike, we draw, we sing, we play music, we have blue eyes, brown eyes and green ones, we both eat olives, figs and hummus, we both believe in a supernatural creator yet we are willing to steal, cut lemon tree, orange tree and almond ones, we are willing to kill in the name of our creator and our corrupted politicians.
At the end of our battle days we both go back to our houses only if we still alive, we both greet our families with the greatest passion, we both tell them how much we love them and how much we missed them, we both remove the tree leaves stuck in our hair from the battle field as the evidence of our crimes, we both clean our cloths from the earth that we both contaminate it with our sins, we both wash our hands from the blood of each other, then, we go to make love with our wives or husbands, get tiered and go to sleep, we both again, wake up again, doing the same thing in the next morning which is preparing for the next battle.
But it doesn’t have to be this way we both can use our logic for a better future, with peace we both can much more than wasting the souls of our enemies and the souls of people we love, we can save our brothers and sisters. With peace you can visit my country and my famous home town of Damascus.
Let me tell you about my love story with an old old city called Damascus or Alsham as we call it in Syria, please tell me, what do you call Damascus in Hebrew?
Here is why I became in love with her: Imagine growing in a city where the jasmine perfumed its morning mist in every corner of its old as well as its new neighbourhoods.
Imagine living in a museum full of antiques teaching you the history without even reading it.
Imagine a city where its music is the Gregorian chants, the prayer of the mosque imam along with the churches bells.
Imagine the beauty of colourful flock of doves dancing in an orange sunset sky.
Imagine seeing the majesty of a silver moon rising between the minarets, the domes and the arches of this ancient city, every month.
Imagine the whole city being like an oasis surrounded by a belt of blossoms in the middle of a dry land.
Imagine the symphony that handicrafts men play by just drawing in silver over hard copper plates.
Imagine feeling the taste of apricot filling your mouth whenever you try to say her name as our Nizar ones taught us.
How can you imagine all of that and not to fall totally in love with such enchanted city.
Nizar Quabani, our famous Syrian poet once wrote:
“Damascus, is not a photo of the heaven,
It is the heaven.
It’s not a second copy of the poem,
It is the poem.”
I’m looking forward to hear your story.
Dimashq 26 Ayar 2009
May 26, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Jad,
I love your Damascus.
Yossi, Shai
Wonderful idea! Thanks for publishing.
May 27, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Lady D,
Thank you for sharing with us your lovely story, I felt like I was there watching you and your Arab friend being together and sharing the good and bad times together, being friends not enemies.
I can’t agree more with your note that we need peace and we need it now, this cycle of evil and violence must stop it is smashing our souls and destroying our humanity in every turn it does. It must stop now and forever.
Yossi my good enemy,
Thank you for accepting me as a guest on your blog, I’m grateful.
Alex, I could feel your love to Damascus and Syria without saying that. Personally, I see you as a piece of marble that absorbed the best of Syrian fragrances inside and spray it wherever it goes.
May 30, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Dear Jad,
I read with great interest your posting on Syrian life and I feel close to you emotinaly and in many other ways. We are both semites and we are related by genetics and blood. Politics have caused us to be distant from each other but peace will prevail over politics and human beings from both sides of the divide will reconnect again. That is because peace is the ultimate value since it brings normality, prosperity and sanity to people’s lives. without it, most government’s money is spent on arms and not education, employment or saving the environment.
As a secular jew in the land of Israel, I feel wonderful because I am a free man, living in a democratic society. I can say what I want, meet who ever I wish, form political affiliations and form opposition to anything I wish as long I do not break the law. Freedom of speech is highly valued under Israeli laws and I am proud that this is so in my country.
There are many things in Israel that require fixing for sure. It is not a perfect place, far from it. Actually there is no perfect place anywhere. Each place has it’s + and -. But here I know I can fight for things I belive in and try to change. I strogly belive individuals can change the course of history for the best. You are a testimony of such change in your society – your openess, sensitivities and emotional intelligence have the potential energy to change things, like cement peace at both societies.
May I suggest, if it’s OK by you, that you write to the Israeli public – how are things over in Syria and I shall try to publish it in a major Israeli press. That kind of dialougue could sure reach a large number of people and maybe change common but false perceptions here that all Arabs want to see ISraelis disapear in the sea or that Syria is not intrested in peace but just in the return of the Golan Heights. It could be anonymous if you prefer, but your contribution could be highly significant to change Israeli public positions on the Syrian-Israeli peace for sure.
Think about it and I woudld love to hear from you soon
All the best
May peace dawn on us all
Boaz Wachtel
May 31, 2009 at 3:54 am
Boaz,
Welcome to our blog! Thank you so much for the great comment. I too generate great optimism from people like Jad, and indeed I wish every Israeli could hear him. Although Jad is special in his readiness to speak directly to us, he is not special in his wishes for peace. Most Syrians also want peace, and are no different from any other life-loving human beings on earth. Israelis must come to understand this.
Jad,
What do you say about Boaz’s offer? I think our Israeli public would benefit tremendously from reading your words. Indeed preconceptions could be shattered by them….
May 31, 2009 at 5:49 am
Boaz,
Thank you very much for your nice and encouraging words.
It’s a very difficult question, I’ll think about that.
Thank you again.
Shai,
I’ll think about that..
BTW, the picture you put on the top is really nice, where is that?
May 31, 2009 at 5:54 am
Jad,
The picture is of Haifa port. Haifa is Yossi’s favorite town… 🙂 (check your mail).
May 31, 2009 at 7:26 am
Shai Haifa looks beautiful, I wonder, how different is the life of our proud Syrian fisherman waking up very early in the morning, having coffee with his wife on an old wooden table at their small house garden, cleaning his net, preparing the boat he inherit it from his father with the help of his sons to go in his unknown journey of collecting sea eatable treasures from the Mediterranean so he can come back the next morning to sell them in the market so he can live as a proud Syrian fisherman for another day, from his Palestinian or Israeli fishermen in Haifa.
Looking long at that picture I can see them doing the same, they look the same, even their Turkish coffee taste the same, what a strange world we live in I wonder again
May 31, 2009 at 7:39 pm
thank you Jad for telling us about your country, hope for peace soon
June 3, 2009 at 1:24 am
Dear Jad,
I was deeply moved to read your beautiful words, your love for your family, city and country are so clearly seen through them, as well as your compassion.
Much like you I grew up in a very loving middle class family, though didn’t have many material assets, had much love, joy and one another. I totally agree with you that love is at the root of any kind of peace. And there is truly no other way for us to be.
I was born in Haifa, and lived there for most of my life. I love it in a way that is hard to explain in words. How can you put into words the feeling of being at home? I feel like I know every little corner of it, the streets, the beaches, the neighborhoods, and the shortcuts through them… my friends’ and family’s homes through it, the pavements I walked on, and the roads I drove on. There is no true way to describe the sensation that I can’t quite explain, but comes over you on a Friday afternoon, when everything quiets down for the weekend and the sight of the Mediterranean as it reveals from Stella Maris (maybe if I were a poet).
I love that Haifa is such a perfect combination of old and new, that you can see the stages of its development going back thousands of years and appreciate each and every one of it (even though I have to say that some of the new ones are not to my liking).
I have to say, though, that my favorite part about Haifa is the people! It is such a combination of cultures, religions and languages that coexist beautifully. You can taste the variety, hear it in the conversations and even the music reflects it. Muslims, Christians, Jewish, Baha’i, Druze are sharing this beautiful space, with different traditions and practices.
A few years back I relocated to the US with my husband. What I found, to my surprise, is that the people I feel most connected with here are people from the Middle East! Who would have dreamed we share a perspective on life in general, raising kids, and friendships… and perspective seems to be a key issue here. It seems that as we go geographically farther from the conflict, the emotional one seems to resolve itself (or reduce significantly) and when looking at the core, we are more alike than different. How liberating it is to recognize that!
Damascus looks amazing through your eyes and I hope to be able to see it for myself and be a tourist in Dameseq (which is how we call Damascus in Hebrew) and that one day you will be able to be a tourist in Haifa and see it for yourself as well.
Shalom and Salam,
Galit
June 3, 2009 at 5:37 am
Galit, I also want to thank you for the beautiful response. I don’t know Haifa very well, and you managed to also bring me into the old and modern alleyways with you…
Admin Note: Commentators not from Haifa are also welcomed… (but only by appointment) 🙂
June 4, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Okay guys, here’s a note from someone who’s not Haifan but from Scandinavia 🙂
Thanks for your courage to start this conversation, Jad.
I’m touched by the possibility this conversation opens up for. I really like the idea of people from different sides sharing their perspectives. When done with curiosity and no blame, as you did, it opens up for us learning about each other which make us understand much better.
I grew up south of copenhagen in Denmark, in a small village with only 25 houses. Very quiet and only a few friends to play with. I had a calm upbringing, played a lot of sports and cycled 5km each way to school and 12km’s each way to high school. I never forget the smells of the fields on my way to school or the beautiful tranquility and briskness in the air when i cycled back late at night after a party at my high school. When i grew older Copenhagen became my home town and still is. I love that city. You can get anywhere on a bicycle within 30mins. The best time of year is spring, when everybody starts populating the cafes on the streets, people sitting by the harbour in great conversations, good food and drinks. There’s such a great diversity of people there although it get’s frustrating when certain groupings fight each other over lack of understanding. It taints everything around and distrust starts to spread among people.
When you, Jad, share the beauty of your beloved Alsham my heart opens and suddenly all difference between us disappears. It gets so clear how we’re all the same, we all just want to be happy and live a good life no matter which side we’re on. I work on large projects in the middle east and its exactly the same issues there between client, contractor and subcontractors. If they align on a common goal; they are a support for each other in accomplishing a great project and if they’re not aligned it all becomes a big mess.
May your post and all other such efforts eventually bring peace and brother-/sisterhood to the middle east.
I read an article on the internet today that had this comment: “Watch what you send out, for that’s exactly what you’re gonna get back.”
So if we keep hating each other, guess what we’re gonna get back, and if we work to understand each other just imagine how that would be in our world today.
Thanks!
June 5, 2009 at 4:34 pm
John,
Welcome to our blog, and thank you for the wonderful comment. When I was growing up in the U.S., I was fortunate enough to live in near-rural areas as well, and rode my bicycle all the time as well. Later, in college, my Dutch professor convinced me to purchase a very good TREK, and ride with him about 40 miles 2-3 times a week on beautiful country roads. I can identify with some of your descriptions. It was fantastic, and made me enjoy this earth in ways few urban dwellers can.
I agree with your wise words about how when groups begin to fight over something, hatred and distrust spread throughout quite easily. No doubt most Israelis and Arabs know more about the conflict from things they’ve been told, rather than experiencing themselves. And all too often real facts are distorted, and information is withheld. The same is happening with regards to Peace Talks, for instance. Few in Israel are truly aware of all that has been going on between Arab states and Israel all these years. Information is spread through interest-driven parties, be it politicians, the media (and its interest-driven editors), and people involved on one side or the other.
But indeed it is through people like Jad, that all of us can generate strength and hope. And we do!
Thank you John!
June 6, 2009 at 5:07 am
Yossi,
It’s kind of sad that we are loosing that kind of simple life style.
Haifa sounds and look very nice, I hope that one day I can visit.
Galit,
Your love to Haifa can be read in every word you wrote, you managed to include a lovely and fresh Mediterranean breath to your love of Haifa. Thank you
John,
I’ve been to Sweden and in my stay there I managed to go for only one day to Copenhagen, I can almost see you riding your bike there…Beautiful city……….
In my humble opinion, Scandinavia is the example that every country in this world should look for, your love of freedom everywhere is unseen, your openness toward the ‘others’ is your religion and your fight for justice is the art that only YOU can master.
I appreciate your words, your kindness and your wishes, I too wish that one day we can have Scandinavian hearts and minds so we can see the real beauty of the world we live in.
Shai,
Thank you.
August 20, 2012 at 3:55 am
Just wondering what happened to you guys. Haven’t heard from you in a long while, neither here nor on Syria Comment. How do you feel about wanting to give legitimacy to Assad given his brutality? And by the way, Jad is an avid Assad supporter.